August 22, 2011

Summer Lovin'

How I would describe this summer in the Hoover household: a full-out sprint for miles, an abrupt wall-hit, and a crawl across the finish line. So here's a re-cap, primarily for those of the grandparent persuasion:

The summer started with some excitement for me. I attended the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer's Conference in North Carolina. Get this: I stayed in a hotel room for 5 days all by myself. Heavenly, I tell you. Even better: I was delighted to learn that the book excerpt I submitted in the conference's contest won first place in the nonfiction book category. Here's my goofy grin after winning and spewing coffee all over my dress (seriously):

The rest of the summer can only be described as a kid's dream summer. Here's the run down:

Will went to summer camp--for 7 nights!--at Summer's Best Two Weeks in PA. Our good friends, Dave & Nikki Hart, are on leadership in the summer and they convinced me, despite my tears at even the thought of it, that camp would be great for him. They were right! He loved it, especially the zip line and miniature golf. Here are some shots of when we dropped him off:

Right after camp, we took our first family vacation, to Disneyworld. We had a blast! The kids loved meeting the characters and Reese even plotted to kiss Minnie, which he did over dinner.

After vacation, we enjoyed a visit from Kyle's mom and his namesake--and our nephew--Kyle Hoover. He and Luke are only three weeks apart so they had a great time ruling the roost.

In July, the boys attended VBS and our church's Sports Camp, of which I have absolutely no pictures.

Finally, we spent a week with my parents and my sister's family in San Diego to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday and upcoming retirement. The boy's loved playing with their cousins at what we dubbed "The Burke House" because Cheryl Burke from Dancing with the Stars filmed her workout video in the backyard. Who knew? We visited the San Diego zoo, Legoland, and SeaWorld....like I said, a kid's dream summer. Our favorite and what we still talk about: the boys got pulled into a side area to help feed a sea lion as a part of its training.

Hello!

Welcome! My name is Christine Hoover. I am a church planting pastor's wife, a mom, an author, and a speaker who loves encouraging women with gospel truths. You can read more about me and what I write about by clicking on my picture. Thanks for stopping by!